arms, you are "And will you thus," faid the hero, fupporting his mafter, who was almost fuffocated with fighs and tears; " and will you thus," faid Belifarius, folding the emperor in his "abandon yourself to despair? Shall a fenfe of a paft error take away the power of atoning for it? Oh my mafter! plunging yourself in fhame and distraction, as if you was the firft man deceived by appearances, and feduced by calumny. Though your error was even a crime, yet, why degrade yourfelf thus? wherefore be humbled to an abject wretch, a thing vile and abhorred? You are my fovereign ftill. Refume your ftrength, nor let the recollection of an unguarded moment rob you of a due reverence for yourself, and the true fpirit of virtue. In this confternation of your heart, reflect upon all the good you have done mankind, and let that reflection counterbalance the mistake of sudden impetuofity.—Belifarius is indeed blind; but nations are freed by your patriot toil from the yoke of barbarians; the calamities of the empire are all repaired by your princely beneficence; and thirty years. of glorious ftruggle for the good of mankind have proved to the univerfe, that Juftinian is not a tyrant.-Belifarius is blind; but he forgives you: and, if you defire to repair the injury you have done him, the means are eafy, and in your power. Grant me only one of the many prayers and vows I offer up for the peace of the world, and I have a full atonement." "Come, then," faid the emperor, fnatching him eagerly to his heart, come, my friend! my genius! and my guide! Oh come and teach me to expiate my guilt! come and exhibit it to my court in all its ftriking colours; and let your presence, while it is a living memorial of my crime, be a proof of my repentance alfo !" In vain did Belifarius ufe every entreaty to be left in folitude. To appease the anguish of the emperor's mind, he was obliged to comply with his request, and to accompany him. A more unexpected revolution never difconcerted the intrigues of a court. On the arrival of Belifarius, all was hurry, diforder, and furprise. "Behold," faid Juftinian, to the train of courtiers, "fee here again the hero! Behold this upright man, whom you made me perfecute to his undoing! From henceforth, ye little fpirits, breathe in fear and trembling. His innocence and his vir tues are now manifeft to me, and are at his difpofal." your lives Pale difmay, and grief, and fhame, covered In Belifarius their daftard every visage. fouls beheld an inexorable judge; they dreaded him as a vindictive and terrible god. The hero continued to fupport the fame modest reserve that adorned him in difgrace. Of his accufers he never deigned to know one; and, honoured through the remainder of his life with the emperor's confidence, he made it his ftudy to obtain an amnefty for the past, and to infpire his mafter with a vigilant attention to immediate exigencies, and an awful feverity to controul all future crimes. But, alas! he did not survive long enough for the good of mankind, and the glory of his mafter. The emperor, quite enfeebled and difpirited, in the eve of life, paid the tribute of a tear to the memory of his departed hero; and with that fhort regret, all the good counfels of Belifarius paffed away, and left no trace behind. INSTANCE INSTANCE THE TWELFTH. MAHO ME T*. All gentle is the faith that comes from God: A S this great impoftor, from a very mean beginning, was, by the impulfe of his ambition, and by his uncommon fagacity, able to place himself at the head of a new fcct, and to bring about one of the greatest revolutions that ever happened in the world, which gave birth to an empire, that, within eighty years from its eftablishment, extended its dominions over more kingdoms and countries than ever the Romans could in eight hundred; he is undoubtedly entitled to a place among thefe inftances of the mutability of fortune. * Dr. Prideaux's Life of Mahomet. Guthrie's Hiftory of the World, vol. vi. &c. 3 Mahomet Mahomet (or, according to the pronunciation of the word in the Arabic language, Mohammed) was born at Mecca, a city of Arabia, in the month of May, in the year of the Chriftian æra 571; others fay the 22d of April 578; Juftin the fecond being then emperor of Conftantinople. He was of the tribe of Korafhites, which was reckoned the noblest in that country, and was defcended in a direct line of primogeniture from PherKoraish, the first founder of the tribe. His father was Abdollah, the fon of Abdol Motallab, who had fucceeded, upon the death of his predeceffor Hafhem, to the government of his tribe in Mecca. But notwithstanding Mahomet derived his defcent from this refpectable origin, he was, during the early part of his life, in a very poor and defpicable fituation; for his father dying before he had attained the age of two years, and while his grandfather Abdol Motallab was still living, the power and wealth of his family devolved on his uncles, twelve in number; efpecially on Abu Taleb, who, after the death of Abdol Motallab, bore the chief sway in Mecca as long as he lived; and under whofe protection it chiefly was, that Mahomet was afterwards fupported in the promulgation |